Newsletter - April 2025
Our monthly newsletter with news from Volt Slovenia, across Europe and our web comic.
Welcome to our monthly Volt Slovenia newsletter (subscribe here)
Spring is upon us and we can’t say Europe and the world are calm and peaceful. On the contrary, whether in Turkey or in Hungary, democracy is under attack as the new US government creates a lot of smoke and other wanna-be autocrats are using it to test the resilience and resolve of democratic institutions and the population.
Sound politics is a safeguard against democratic systems veering of course. Sound politics need good contributions. Volt Slovenia will offer a clean slate to make these contributions.
👉 Join us, as we work towards setting up and registering as a political party
Topics:
What’s happening in Volt Slovenia?
April 1st
News on the party registration
Our political priorities #3
News from Europe
Orban cancels pride
Governments meet to help Ukraine, EU also invited
Armenia votes to become EU member
Biggest protest in Serbia so far
News from other chapters
Volt Portugal is heading for snap election
Volt Czechia welcomes Mikuláš Peksa
Volt Cyprus is 5th in national polls
💡 Minis discover Europe
What's happening in Volt Slovenia
April 1st
Last month we posted on the Canal 0 wastewater project in Ljubljana which was stopped 128 meters before the finish because no environmental impact study had been made (more info here).
April 1st is always a good occasion to put a topic in the spotlight and we were happy to report that the Ljubljana mayor tasked the most famous plumbers from Italy (the ones with mustaches) to fix the issue. So paneuropean!
👉 Read about the participative plumping efforts here.
News on the party foundation
We submitted our statutes for registering Volt Slovenija as a legal party for validation to the Interior Ministry. The Statutes are already online on our website - as are parts of our political programme.
Next step is collecting signatures of 200 founding members, which we need before hosting our founding general assembly. Founding members will become honorary members, meaning you will have nothing to do and won’t appear anywhere unless you want to become active in the Volt Slovenija yourself.
Volt Slovenija’s initial political priorities
Last month we wrote about the importance of decentralisation to develop our regions and relieve Ljubljana of the pressures on housing prices and pollution. It is the 2nd priority we want to focus on aside from European integration.
This month we present our third and final priority for our programme:
Trust and Transparency
The biggest lever to close the economic gap to northern EU member states for us is trust and transparency. Only in the Czech republic is trust in politics lower than in Slovenia. If a project like JEK2 is considered too big of a black hole for public funds disappearing to hold a referendum, private investors will also carefully consider whether to invest in Slovenia. From the black economy exempting parts of the population from social protection to reducing the possibilities to invest in projects like transport infrastructure to media and public institutions being heavily influenced by politics instead of being neutral - we need a new party without the historic “baggage” to try and drag politics out of the murky water. There is a lot to do and just imagine Slovenia with a reliable, efficient and transparent political system.
What’s happening in Europe
Orban cancels pride with new law banning assemblies
Copyright: Boglarka Rodnar/MTI/AP
It was not a good month for the Hungarian civil society: on the country's March 15th national holiday and amid large protests against the government, Victor Orban labelled journalists, judges, activists and NGOs as “bugs” financed by the European Union (the Hungarian government itself is a net beneficiary of EU contributions) needed to be crushed.
This was followed by a new anti-democracy law severely restricting the right to assembly. The most symbolic victim will be this year’s Pride parade scheduled at the end of June but already assemblies of opposition political parties have been banned. The law which takes Hungary yet another step further away from European democratic values, was even met with protest inside parliament, but until next year’s national elections, there is little opposition parties can do.
👉 You can read more about the situation in Hungary and the upcoming national elections here
Governments meet to help Ukraine, EU also invited
Copyright: © Ludovic MARIN / POOL/AFP
French president Emmanuel Macron is still in the driver’s seat having organised yet another summit gathering EU and world leaders to try and coordinate essential military help for Ukraine after the new US government switched sides.
Just as these meetings are essential for Ukraine, they also show the political irrelevance of the European Union. Ursula von der Leyen was invited as usual, but the European Commission is more spectator than deciding actor. For all the talk of a joint EU defense and a stronger Europe, presidents are still shun decisive steps towards such a more United Europe - albeit a record high 89% of the population supporting a more united Europe.
Armenia votes to join the EU
Copyright: Belga
The EU popularity is also rising beyond its current borders. Last month saw the Armenian parliament adopt a law to begin the EU membership process fulfilling yet another step away from the sphere of Russian influence. The country is also in the process of working out a peace treaty with long term enemy Azerbaijan which in 2023 purged the Armenian minority from the Berg-Karabakh region.
Just as on the Balkans, there are great hopes associated with the European Union and the potential of EU membership and although the political situation in neighbouring Georgia is much different, the sentiment among the population in the South Caucasus is growing.
Biggest protest in Serbia so far
Copyright: Reuters
March 15th also saw the largest protests in the history of Serbia against government corruption that led to the death of 15 civilians in a Novi Sad construction project in November of last year.
With 100.000 to 300.000 protesters on the street, the EU finally urged Serbian president Vucic to commit to reforms to strengthen media independence and fight corruption in a recent visit - after also being called out by a group of MEPs that included Volt’s Reinier van Lanschot.
News from other Volt chapters
Volt Portugal is heading for snap elections
Copyright: Volt
Volt Portugal was making strides to build up momentum for the local elections later that year, when the government fell over a corruption scandal and snap elections were called in May. With national, local and presidential elections coming up, the team has its hands full.
Since it has apparently become normal for anti-European to try and influence elections from abroad, Volt Europa will also no longer just stand on the sidelines, but help team work towards getting a first deputy elected in Lisbon. If you want to help, Portuguese political parties can receive donations from abroad and any help will go towards financing the upcoming campaigns.
Volt Czechia welcomes Mikuláš Peksa
Copyright: Instagram Mikuláš Peksa
Long term Pirate MEP Mikuláš Peksa recently announced leaving the Czech Pirate to join Volt Czechia and we’re extremely happy to count such an experienced former deputy and leader of the Czech Pirate Party among our ranks
The Czech Republic will have national elections later this year and after Portugal, all eyes and hands will be on deck to help our chapter in Czechia compete for likewise electing a first deputy into Parliament.
👉 Read this Volt Europa post if you’re want to know more about Mikuláš and Volt Czechia
Volt Cyprus is 5th in national polls
Copyright: financial mirror
Volt Cyprus is another fast growing chapter preparing for 2026 national elections. We are currently 5th in polls, which in theory would 4-5 deputies in the Cypriote parliament where we are currently represented by Alexandra Attalides.
By the time Cyprus heads to the polls, we also hope to be ready in Slovenia. There is still a lot to do, but our goal is to have representatives in parliaments in all EU member states and we hope to also have a chance to provide our pan european perspective to citizens in Slovenia.
Minis discover Europe
As usual, we finish with the adventures of Hedge and the Professor as they explore the European Institutions - our monthly comic by Izar Lunaček. Last episodes are here.
Thank you for reading, please recommend our newsletter to friends that might be interested in Volt and see you again in a month.
The team
from Volt Slovenia